Louisville vs. Houston
February 19, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2014
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 
| Louisville v. Houston 2/19/14 Photo Gallery
Louisville Head Coach Jeff Walz
(On coaching both 2000 point scorers) "It's great. It's quite an accomplishment. I thought she did a nice job tonight. She didn't really force any shots especially in the second half. I just thought she let the game come to her. Did a really nice job passing the basketball, came up with eight rebounds. She's had a remarkable career, there's no question about it. We're just hoping we can finish it on a high note."
(On being one of just five men and women both over 2000 points and what it means about her) "It's quite the accomplishment. She has the ability to score, and that's what separates her from a lot of people. She comes to the gym everyday, she loves to play the game. I think that's what separates your top tier players. They love to play every day. If Shoni could stay in the gym all day long, I think she would. There are players out there who enjoy playing it, that really like to play it. But there is a big difference between enjoying it, liking it, and loving it. She loves it."
(Difference in shoot selection from the first to the second half) "We talked at halftime about how we were forcing up too many three's and dribbling too much in the first half. So I told them we need to shoot the three inside out. We did a really nice job at getting the ball in the post and made some pull up jump shots. In return, we shot a much better percentage from the field. So it's something were going to continue to emphasize and hopefully you will see a big improvement on Sunday, when we play a very good Rutgers team."
(On how pleased he is with a poor performance but a 19-point win) "It is a 19 point win. We have a lot of work to do. We are making the same mistakes and that is what is so frustrating for me right now. If you want to be great, make different mistakes. We worked two solid days on transition on jump stopping and we turn the ball over three times by not jump stopping. It is just simple. We are just going to keep doing it and keep doing it. I told them at half court that we are running out of days and running out of games. At this point and time I challenged them and said it was their team. They are the ones that step out onto the floor. It is our job as coaches to give you a plan and make sure you are prepared. You are the one that will make the decision on what you will do with the ball and you are the one to make the decision if you are going to box out every time. That is where I am hoping they get it together and say we are either all in or we are not. At this point last year it was all in. We didn't win every game but we were competing. The difference is who you are competing against every game in your conference play. Now we have a Rutgers team and if we play Sunday the way we played tonight we are not going to win. That is the hard part to try and get your players to understand. A 19-point win is great but that performance will not get you a win on Sunday."
(On where Shoni Schimmel ranks all time under players he has coached) "She is one of the top players, but I never rank the players I have coached because I have had the opportunity to coach some great ones in the past. They all do something different. You go through the players I have had at Maryland, Western Kentucky, and Nebraska. They all do something different but the one thing they all have in common is the love to play the game. Angel (McCoughtry) loved playing basketball and Shoni (Schimmel) loves to play basketball. That is why they are as talented as they are."
Sara Hammond, Jr., F
(On playing with Shoni Schimmel) "Shoni is a unique player and a special player. Obviously, you all have seen it over the past four years here at Louisville. There's not a lot of Shoni Schimmels out there, and there's not a lot of basketball players like her out there, and I mean that in a good way. The way she passes the ball, the way she shoots the ball, she can do it all. If she's having a bad shooting night she can still affect the game with the way she passes the ball, the way she draws the defense to her, and allows her teammates to get open. To be a part of this team and get older, and my kids and grandkids ask me what it was like to play with Shoni Schimmel, I'm going to be like, she was the best teammate I've ever had, she's such a team player and such special player. I'm honored to be her teammate and I think tonight was a special night to get her 2,000th point."
(On the team's performance tonight) "We weren't playing our best basketball tonight, and that's just something that we have got to learn from, we're 28 games into the season you know, you'd think we'd have figured it out by now. We've just got to keep working everyday and learning each day, because Coach Walz tells us all the time we're not playing our best games right now and we're winning still. For us to continue to get better and its carrying over we're just going to start beating people by more and more. Coming up to tournament time it's definitely going to help us and we've got to keep working these next couple of games to kind of figure it out."
(On the team having a bull's-eye on its back) "Coach does remind us that we have a target on our backs. He tells us all the time that teams are coming in here and this is their Super Bowl game, and their chance, if they are having a bad season, to get in the NIT or their chance to ruin our season. So we know coming into every game that teams are going to give their all out best. But we shouldn't let that affect us that should just give us more motivation to go out there and prove who we really are that top five team and we will not be easy to beat. But we need to just keep fighting and be prepared come tournament time, because when it comes tournament time it one and done, if you lose your seasons over with. I think the coaches are really harping at us about that and preaching to us because they know how great of a team we have and how good of a chance we have to get back to the Final Four."
(On Emmonnie's improvement) "She is instant offense when she comes off the bench. She can probably score six points in three minutes. She's definitley improved. She is starting to pick and choose now when there are good situations to score because teams are double and triple teaming her in the post, we have been telling her along with the coaches that if she passes it back out the other teams are going to go out to our guards because we have good shooters so just let the offense come to you. But right now we are really working with her defense because her strength and size she can affect the defensive end as well, but she's just a freshman she is still getting a feel for college and what college basketball is all about. She has really improved and you saw from the Memphis game she had a career-high. Going into the tournament that is a plus we are a post threat to teams and that will help us down the stretch."
(Coach said that if you play like this tonight, you'd lose to Rutgers) "I would definitely agree with him because of the small mental mistakes we made with our turnovers. For a good stretch we were doing good limiting our turnovers. At Connecticut we had thirteen and against the number one team in the country that's really great, but you go down to Memphis and we have 20. Tonight, I don't even know how many we had. But that's just something that this time into the season where it's almost done with the regular season, for such a great team we can't afford that right now. Other teams watch film on us as well so they're probably going in watching and saying `Louisville, they're turning the ball over, if you pressure them then that gets them rattled.' So we've just got to clean up on that and be ready come Sunday because Rutgers is probably going to watch this game and think hey they're beatable."
(On Shoni as a top player in the country) "She's Top 10. Actually I'd put her in the Top Five. And I mean that 100 percent because she's proven that over these last four years. When people have counted our team out, just in general, Shoni has put us on her back and she's carried us through. Without her we wouldn't have gone as far as we did in the tournament, and obviously you saw the type of person she is standing up to Brittney Griner, who was the top player in college basketball. She's definitely a Top Five player in college basketball today and I think she'll be a great WNBA player as well."
Shoni Schimmel, Sr., G
(On scoring 2,000 points) "It's a great accomplishment to be able to score 2,000 points. It's been great to be at Louisville for four years and it's special to be able to share it not only with my teammates, but with the fans as well, just because I've put a lot of work into it. It's just very special."
(On thinking about the 2,000th point) "We were just talking about it. I didn't even know to be honest with you. So I didn't even know about it to be honest with you."
(On the team's poor shooting night) "Yeah, we just started driving the ball a little bit more. It wasn't going in on the outside, so we took advantage of that. The threes weren't falling so we just got to the free throw line and drove it."
(On being the Fifth member of the 2,000 point club in Louisville history) "For you to point out all that it just makes it even more special. Not many people do it, it's just been great to be able to play here, to hit that 2,000 mark and I'm still not done, so it's all good."
(On being aware of how close she was to 2,000 points) "I saw something on twitter that said come watch Shoni score her 2,000th point tonight. I wasn't thinking about it, I kind of forgot about it. Ms. Kim mentioned it after the game, so it's cool."
(On catching Angel McCoughtry) "That's a lot, she has like 2,700 points."
(What does it mean to you to be in a category with only you and Angel McCoughtry?) "It's a great honor just to be able to be up there with Angel. She is a great basketball player but she's a little bit way up there. But it's just a good accomplishment being a basketball player and it is something special to me being at the University Of Louisville. It's just something special to be a part of."
(On the big-time atmosphere coming up in the next couple of games) "It's going to be great for us to have our fans behind us and for us to play the last two home games at home is going to be very special. For those lower bowls to be sold out, it's awesome because we love our fans and when we're in a slump they get us going sometimes. So for us to have our fans behind us, it's only going to help us go out there and play harder."
(Do you think there are similarities between you and Russ Smith?) "Yes and no. We love to play basketball and we're going to go out there and play our hardest every night. And for that to carry over and go into our game, I think that's where we share the similarities just because hey, if you leave me open I'm going to shoot it or hey, I'm going to take this ball screen and use it and then you're going to pay for it and I'm going to knock this down. There's a lot of similarities, but he's a little faster than I am."
